The present invention relates to a driving device of a conveyor device.
Driving devices of conveyor devices are used, in particular, in the region of the harvesting machine where worm conveyors are used to convey crop in the axial direction and in the radial or tangential direction. The driving devices of the conveyor devices comprise feeder aids, which are moved in the radial direction of the conveyor device by means of an eccentric control shaft. The feeder aids therefore protrude from the conveyor device by different extents during the conveying process.
When one of the feeder aids is in the position thereof protruding furthest from the conveyor device and, in a case where the feeder aid so protruding strikes a foreign object picked up with the crop, the feeder aid can break. The greatest bending moment occurs in the region of the wall of the conveyor device. The broken-off part of the feeder aid then generally falls into the crop stream and is transported thereby into the interior of the harvesting machine. Consequently, damage can occur to working assemblies of the harvesting machine, such as threshing, separating, or chopping devices of a combine harvester. Conventional means are known from the prior art that are designed to prevent the sections of the feeder aid from becoming separated if the feeder aid should break.
EP 1 712 121 A1, for example, makes known a driving device for a conveyor device of the initially mentioned type. A feeder aid is described therein, which is disposed on a control shaft in the interior of the conveyor device by means of a swivel bearing. The feeder aid has a predetermined breaking point in the vicinity of the swivel bearing. in the event that the feeder aid breaks, in order to prevent the outer part of the broken feeder aid from dropping into the crop stream, the retaining means (which retain the part of the feeder aid disposed at a distance from the swivel bearing), and the holding means (via which the feeder aid is fastened on the swivel bearing), are designed as one piece.
In order to achieve the one-piece design of the holding means and the retaining means, a cotter pin having a complicated design is used to immobilize the feeder aid on the swivel bearing and enclose the feeder aid above the predetermined breaking point. Therefore, if the feeder aid strikes a foreign object, the feeder aid breaks at the predetermined breaking point instead of becoming deformed. The disadvantage of a feeder aid according to EP 1 712 121 A1 is, in particular, the complicated manufacture of the cotter pin and the special configuration of the swivel bearing that is required to immobilize the feeder aid.